Government backs opt-in Phorm

 

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By Barry Collins

Posted on 16 Sep 2008 at 16:39

The Government has given its blessing for controversial web advertising service Phorm to operate in the UK.

In response to EU inquiries over the legality of the system, the Department for Business, Enterprise and Regulatory Reform (BERR) says that the scheme "is capable of being operated" on a strictly opt-in basis.

However, BERR hasn't made any comment on the secret trials Phorm conducted with BT, which resulted in the telecoms giant being questioned by City of London Police earlier this month.

The BERR statement lays out the conditions under which the Phorm service must operate in the future. These stipulate that:

• The user profiling occurs with the knowledge and agreement of the customer


• The profile is based on a unique ID allocated at random which means that there is no need to know the identity of the individual users


• Phorm does not keep a record of the actual sites visited


• Search terms used by the user and the advertising categories exclude certain sensitive terms and have been widely drawn so as not to reveal the identity of the user


• Phorm does not have nor want information which would enable it to link a user ID and profile to a living individual


• Users will be presented with an unavoidable statement about the product and asked to exercise a choice about whether to be involved


• Users will be able to easily access information on how to change their mind at any point and are free to opt in or out of the scheme

The clear onus on making Phorm's Webwise system opt-in could well dent its chances of commercial success, with many users likely to be suspicious of the technology following a barrage of negative publicity since the secret trials with BT were exposed.

However, Phorm insists it's happy with the BERR conditions. "The UK Government's position on Phorm's technology reflects our common commitment to transparency and superior standards of online privacy," the company claims in a statement.

"We will continue to engage with stakeholders from regulators to consumers and are excited about demonstrating how our system will benefit all of them by introducing a new way to help fund the future of the internet and its richness and diversity."

Is Phorm really that bad? Read Davey Winder's verdict in this month's PC Pro magazine, on sale now.